In a sense, “Succession” will never end. The Roy family’s wealth is too immense to be crammed into a single episode, even a movie-long finale. That kind of money isn’t even money anymore; it is capital, power, and, as Kendall put it in her eulogy to Logan, “the lifeblood (…) of this wonderful civilization we’ve built from the mud.” Whoever succeeds business titan Waystar Royco will conquer the realms of an ecosystem that may not be too big to fail, but will surely protect their own. Barring an asteroid crashing into the planet or a significant time jump to the post-apocalypse, the ending of “Succession” is unlikely to stop the Roys’ destructive rampage on this planet. There will be survivors. There will be business. There will be wealth.
But we won’t see any of that because “Succession” is still running out. Sunday, May 28, 2023 will go down in history as the day the world will find out who is following in Logan Roy’s footsteps. Will Kendall, Shiv, Roman or even Connor continue the family legacy? What about Lukas Matsson, the GoJo madman out to strip his prized acquisition for parts? Or could a dark horse find its way to pole position?
Who “wins” The “Succession” is always a question of who has the most to lose. Jesse Armstrong’s HBO black comedy is a tragedy, at heart, and while its final chapter will be filled with trademark takedowns and delicious zingers, it will also be undoubtedly painful. This, in part, is why I bet on Kendall. Over the past four seasons, we’ve seen the chosen one again and again make his attempt in the corner office… and fail every time. But with each failed hit, he gets a little stronger. In part, it’s because Kendall can sometimes learn from his mistakes, but Armstrong also made it clear that Kendall is just so much better off without her toxic dad.
We see this in Season 2, when he becomes Logan’s scapegoat only to get back in his good graces (after spending time alone trying to recover from the murder at Shiv’s wedding). It’s even clearer in Season 3, when going to war with Logan nearly kills Kendall. But season four captures the starkest contrast between who Kendall can be on her own and who she becomes when she needs that daddy kiss. He’s airing into the premiere, planning a new media adventure with the brothers, and still coasting until Logan’s death. It’s only then, when shaken by loss and the great unknown, that Kendall descends back into darkness; he starts exploring ways to become the sole CEO. Now, it’s his obsession with him and I think he’ll understand that, mostly because it’s going to absolutely ruin his life.
But that’s just me! Below, the IndieWire staff shared their predictions for the final episode. Everyone cast a vote on who will “win,” but even better: they extended the guessing game to other enticing areas like Tom and Shiv’s wedding, Roman and Gerri’s “relationship,” and of course Cousin Greg’s fate . So dive in, dear readers, and share your predictions before it’s too late. Start to finish is Sunday at 9:00 PM ET. Fasten your seatbelts, you dickheads. This will get wild.
Prediction: Lukas Matsson FTW
The victor is Skarsgaard, with Greg as his lackey, and all other Roys are excluded. Shiv and Tom are together, bonded by a desire to make things right/mess up another guy. Roman commits suicide. Kendall is humiliated/shamed/put aside. – Dana Harris-Bridson, managing editor and senior vice president
Prediction: one last hour without Roy
There’s a part of me that really wanted “Church and State” to be the series finale. (Saying goodbye to the Big Guy and being left to see what his family has done on the streets of New York seemed like a perfect ending to a show that is somehow about avoiding consequences and not being able to avoid consequences at the same time. same time.) So I know we have enough dialogue snippets and reaction shots from this last episode to make a one-minute promo, but what if those little snippets are the majority of what we see of the main characters? What if the latest episode leans into the idea of a post-Roy world by almost completely eliminating all of Logan’s family/associates/inner circle? Whether it’s Mattson or Mencken or any other greedy man with too much power, control of this world-changing company shifts to an incoming group of strangers, and we see this entire depraved cycle begin anew with an hour of a new group of people as vile as the last one. Gears in the unstoppable machine. – Steve Greene, critic and associate editor, TV
Prediction: Greg Ascends
I could argue endlessly about who will end up with the CEO’s (Kendall) pyrrhic victory but here’s what I feel for sure: By the end of the episode, Greg will have more power than Tom, and Shiv will decide to become a single mother and delude herself. she herself will be different from her parents. She will work great! — Erin Strecker, executive editor, TV
Prediction: Children are our future and the future is now
Who doesn’t love a time jump? In true “King Lear” fashion, we don’t stop with Kendall winning the boardroom, we see the beginnings of her children Sophie and Iverson, and unborn child Logan Wambsgans, all freezing an aging Jeremy Strong from his empire. All of this has happened before and it will all happen again! —Sarah Shachat, Associate Craft Editor
Prediction: Shiv FT…W?
Here’s my no mashed potato wild theory: everybody goes, everybody’s out, everybody’s just 86-ed to gamble with their billions but never, ever have anything to do with any of the Roy family estates we’re talking about never, Still. Nothing new! No politics! No movies! Nothing! Except… Cousin Greg. The boy resists, mostly because no one really knows who he is or what he does (does anything?) and how he is related to this clan. He’s doomed to spend the rest of his life stealing bodega sushi and being someone’s pet dog. He’s happier that way, really!
OK, current theory: Shiv “wins,” but all she gets is a “CEO of the United States” job for a guy she doesn’t like and a country she doesn’t understand, and she’s left without Tom or the rest of the brothers. The child? Tate forever. – Kate Erbland, executive editor, films
Forecast: an anticlimax
The conclusion to the four-year story about the future of Waystar Royco will be disappointing. The upcoming clash of brothers won’t matter. Shareholder interests win (they always do), and I don’t think anyone on the board, including and especially the Old Guard (who seems uncharacteristically quiet since Episode 4), sees the boys as the answer. (Side prediction: I think Karolina plunges the last knife into the boys, driving them away in silence with the threat of public humiliation. God knows she’s got the ammunition.)
Leave it to Kendell and Roman to use and abuse the ATN to launch an election and endanger democracy, only to wake up the next morning with “our dicks in the hands of (future President Mencken).” Logan would have POTUS balls in his safety deposit box. He could have ruled with fear and favor, but Logan knew his underlying power was manipulating situations, so his best interests were in the best interests of those who could decide his fate.
In that sense, I have the most hope for Shiv. She’s been more successful working outside the orbit of Logan’s empire and would have been better served had she stayed there, rather than being sucked into its gravitational pull – you see the signs of that in the way she’s helping Matsson handle the sale , which could give her a leadership position (which still has a definite glass ceiling). But I also see signs that she might be the one who, now that Dad and the succession game are over, might be able to move forward with her life in a remotely more positive direction. Shiv seems more aware of what she’s become thanks to mom and dad, and she has the best chance of breaking that pattern with a post-dad newborn. I’m not sure if the cycle of abuse ends with her, but I think she will be determined to break her mother’s pattern of abandoning her child and their best interests. – Chris O’Falt, executive editor, craft and special projects
Prediction: Roman & Gerri 4eva
You asked for wild, so this is me putting $50 on 16th seed the night before March Madness starts:
When the GoJo deal ends and leaves them both permanently barred from the company, Roman and Gerri will be able to put their past differences behind them and forge a new friendship…the sexual problems died with his father.
(My real prediction is that the show ends with Mattson getting the entire company and installing Tom as his puppet CEO.) – Christian Zilko, Weekend Editor
Prediction: Old secrets turn the tide
My favorite prediction is that Shiv will release information about Kendall and the valet from her wedding to the tabloids (or other press). The deal goes through with her as US CEO, Waystar gone and turning into the next monster –AND raising her child alone (hello Tom) to be the next her. – Grace Cornejo, director of events
Prediction: an unexpected confession
It might be too crazy and I’m not Truly I think it will, but here you go.
Stewy confesses his love for Kendall, but is rejected. Now it’s clear that the show will end with Kendall on top, having become the killer her father always wanted him to be, but having ruined every relationship that really mattered for him to get there. The only relatively untested bond he has is with his best/only friend Stewy – which many, many fans are convinced goes beyond friendship, at least from Stewy’s point of view. Stewy confessing romantic feelings for Kendall, only to be rejected, would be the final step for Kendall to end up the way he was meant to do all along: completely alone. – Wilson Chapman, breaking news writer
Final count of “winners”:
Kendall: 4
Luke Matsson: 3
Shiv: 2
Other: 1
